I remember some argument about who could take more mink in a pocket or a blind set...so I went to find out this weekend. I only got one side of the story, but it seems pretty convincing to me!!!
Went out with a friend this weekend on the mink line having too much fun, and we even caught a few of those tricky mink. They sure seemed to love those Duke traps in pocket sets. Worked so good I think we caught enough to cover gas for the weekend.


Better view of the mink

Gotta ask...how many? Gotta love those Dukes...

Dang you got some big mink! Sure a shame the way the price is right now though. You might cover gas:)

Not bad for goofing off with a friend!

Did ya have to lower a set or two due to dropping water?

I don't think we have that many in our whole state! LOL.
Congrats.

Nice haul!! Good job!

[Please excuse my language... I'm an idiot] thats a good hual

To live in minnesota! I always have argued with the blind setting guys also! I like to catch the mink and move not wait around! Pocket sets are ten times better than any blind set!

show me a pic of your pocket set

Like there was ever a doubt !

Great catch, the smile say's it all !!!

Very nice!

Impressive

Your arithmetic is WAY wrong, EmpireBuilder...

Holy Crap....what a load of mink! That would be a great season catch for most folks. I hope you learned something you can pass along to me the next time you are helping me go fishing.

WOW thats a nice haul right there. Great job

WOW !!!!

That is unbelievable- you guys are good, Pocket sets? did u use any bait? just how'd you do that ? dig a small hole at the water edge and put a trap in front of it?

Very Impressive catch- WOW!!!

Answers for those who are interested...
For what we ran for traps/bait/traps...go pick up a copy of Gerald Schmitt's Mega Mink Methods. Doing all the same things, and having all the same results!
Not quite 50 mink in the picture.
A little bit for dropping water, maybe 10% needed to be adjusted.

Empire Builder...The area you live is not too much different than where these mink are taken!

Jim Spencer, we both know the pockets shine in the midwest. You know how to catch them in your country! Blind sets all the way.

Do mink hunt/move with the current or against it?

Jim your area down there is like night and day difference from up here. You do have more mink up there then I do down here Marble! I used to catch over 150 a year with ease 98% in pockets I have a few students right here on this board that liked my knowledge enough to write me a check so this isnt my first rodeo. Its my second! HAHA

Oh, I know. But the statement that pockets are "10 times better than blind sets" stuck in my craw. That's simply not true, no matter where you trap.

Neither is it true to say "blind sets all the way" down here in my milder climate. UpstateNY or somebody earlier in this thread made the comment that using a mixture of both blind sets and baited/lured pockets is the best way to catch the best numbers, and that's true wherever mink are found.

Fine catch, by the way.

I suspect in slow water it doesn't make much difference, but if there's much current I believe it's an upstream hunt. I do know that more often than not, the downstream side of a bridge or culvert is the best place to set.

Keep in mind, though, that even in winter a good portion of a mink's prey is land-based. A mink is NOT a water animal.

Jim Personally now you dont have to agree but I couldnt disagree more. I would take a hundred dollar bill anyday in the state of Iowa not arkansas now and bet you I put in my pocket with one trap and you put in a blind set and I will catch a mink before you nine out of ten times!

You'd probably beat me up there with your pocket sets, I'm not arguing that point. But I'd bet you a dozen MB750s against a worn-out number one jump trap that you wouldn't beat me 10 to 1.

No way for either of us to prove it, though, so I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree. It's not very important in the overall scheme of things, anyway, I suppose.

I don't know, upstate, I seem to catch a lot of rats, coons, possums and rabbits in my blind sets.

Not holding something right, that's for sure.

Great haul! Thanks

Wow nice haul!

My question is, where are all the coon? lol howd you catch so many mink with baited pockets and not get one incidental coon

good job and have a great season!

congrats howmany did you get?

Hmmm, more than a few things in that picture look awfully famaliar to me.

OH YA I LOVE IT.........

do you use bait or lure in every pocket set?

I just wanna catch a couple for my collection... Not that half-truckload you got!

I set 6 110's today.

2 bottom edge set
2 in travel lanes
2 pocket sets, no bait or lure.

I think I need to open up the holes, they are only about three in" diameter.

Well I can say I know the guy that caught them pretty well, he taught me how to trap and I have witnessed his sucess first hand, Im a believer in the baited pockets after knowing gerald shmidt and the fella who caught those mink. Great job, hope ya pound the mink to add to your rats!

Well Jim your right we will never know! I have one secret that I have never seen in any video or book! I found out about it on pure luck and accident! The only time I let the cat out of the bag is when I give someone a personal lesson! It is what makes me different than any minker I ever ran into! Now im not saying I am the only one that does this in the world ha ha! However I have never heard it mentioned or seen it used on a trap line! I have literally caught up to 15 mink in one nights check on my opening week coon line! All incidentals and yes I have a couple pics if anyone is shaking their heads right now! When I trap mink I run a lot of miles and run almost all baited pocket sets! I usually will go through an area and catch the mink right out from under other trappers and they never even know I am there until It is too late! I learned from the best ever and took his knowledge and adapted it to my style and now I have a very effective system! This man is a legend and has passed on! A lot of you know him and some dont! If anyone would like to know who showed me the ropes his initials are B.H. Now that being said my best one night check is 29 mink! Now mind you I was driving lots of counties and had a lot of sets out! When the weather is just right the mink will literally fill your traps to the point that it gets goofy! But I will always be a minker nothing gets me more excited than to look down and see a big buck mink down and drown under the grass set I made just so he is hid to all the other eyes! By the way Jim I have nothing but the utmost respect for you and if I came down your way I would be lost cause I have been told them southern mink are a lot different to catch than ours! My buddies that go down south to beaver trap tell me they dont like baited pockets anything like the mink up here! So if I ever move to Arkansas I will be looking you up for a lesson on blind sets!

I'll trade ya even up for a lesson on pockets. Bud was a pretty good mink trapper, wasn't he?

Well Jim you know as well as me probably that mink was not his best talent! In my opinion I think Bud was a better fox trapper than minker haha! But yes Bud Hall was an exceptional man I miss him everytime I go put out a mink line whether it ten sets or a 125! I would just sit there and listen to him tell stories about checking traps in his old cars in blizzard conditions! I am only 27 years old and never trapped in winters like they had back then! My favorite time of the year to trap mink is when it is frozen up solid and I use my maps to target spots I have marked over the years that never freeze! Let me tell ya you find open water in the middle of a deathly cold winter and I have caught up to 7 mink at one spot over a couple weeks. They have to survive and if your willing to put on some clothes and drive down some icy roads it is absolutely beautiful! Getting out and breathing in through your nose and the ice crystals form and all you smell is mink musk hit you across the lips and you know ya got one! What a rush no drug or alcohol could ever compare!!!

Nice work!

You are on fire!! Thanks for making me wanna go throw my 5 mink away!!! HAHA...

You are my new hero.

hello nice catch,how many traps,how many days,how many miles? i have a copy of geralds book,just trying to get the numbers in my head.

Dont you wish you caught all thoughs back in the early 80"s?
a truck load of money back then.

50 mink in 2 days, how many traps were you running.

Holy mink. Now that's what I call a good run.

Great catch, those are some big mink

Nice catch...you obviously live where you have an abundance of mink, but then you worked hard too. Those mink didn't jump in that truck by themselves!

nice

Photo Shopped............

Most minkers dont like talking about miles put on in a day haha! I have had some mink lines that were halfway across the state of Iowa it felt like!

No secret to putting up big catches of any animals. Cover the miles and put out many quick effective sets.

Traps checked...I would guess somehwere in the 300's. We had 21 mink out of the last 80 traps that were the first check. Had 4 doubles on mink in 5 stops at one point.
Miles put on over the weekend cheking and setting more traps...somewhere in the 600 range.

mike,,,we didnt make 600 miles. haha. we checked about 260 sets on that line. 60% of that line was also played out and shouldve been moved sooner. a baited pocket is not mink specific and i dont want to miss the rats and coon either. i think there was about 20 rats and 20 coon the same day. coon have been slow so far, too much corn still in the fields and theyre too well fed right now. mink are my favorite and i dont pay much attention to the rat/coon numbers each day. my best ever percentage was 51 mink from 190 sets, best one day run was 64, best year 831 in 6 weeks. during the 80s i was taking between 300 and 400 per year. didnt trap any mink til the 11th day of season this year. best day ever on coon was 110.

lol Tim, you sound like a pro-trapper... your set up compared to mine makes me look like a hobby trapper.... lol

WOW, that's all just WOW. IF you ever need some one to just carry heavy stuff let me know. LOL

600 miles..........That's covering some ground!

Very impressive catch!Wish we had that Mink population here!

There is no way you caught that many mink in pockets without catching a bunch of rats/coon. Good job! Tell us what else you caught. Terry

i think there was about 20 rats and 20 coon the same day. coon have been slow so far, too much corn still in the fields and theyre too well fed right now


Sounds about right for that %.

15 coon and 18 rats along with the mink...but that makes a pretty pathetic picture compared to 48 mink!

marbleyes,,,the line you rode with me on, was about 320 miles long. however,,,there was the extra 40 miles to get to the 2 bars we hit, and the motel we crawled to. then there was another 100+ miles to get you back here to your truck. always seems longer when you have the shotgun seat. pulled most of that line today. 12 rats, 20 mink, and 39 coon. will reset tomorrow again. bud25,,,hows the rat catch stacking up?

Ha!

Add in another 200 miles round trip for me to get there and back...and my math says it was a 660 mile trapline! Are the coons finaly starting to move???

mike,,yeah the coon are finally moving into the water as the corn comes out. about time. set today and tomorrow again. will be good to check some new sets for a change. brents on his way to the skinners with a truckload right now, about 50 coon plus mink and rats and a stray beaver or two. tomorrow nite gonna check out the old home-town bar for a change, as im setting in that direction. haha. that western mink is still laying there,,about 7 or 8 days now. guy should be turned in.

No Mink left over there and the beer is still cold at the bar. LOL I will be watching for ya! Hit'em hard.

hey fossil might have to swing in for a few with ya tomorrow! What time?

trapper34, if we get that far, i'll have brent call you. he can get your number from andrew. off to bed,,,this old man needs rest.

Believe it or not a mink man can can catch a ton of mink and keep the raccoon catch very very low! Lots of little tricks and so on!

Yes one can but with the prices the way they are one needs every dime they can get just to pay for gas.

Griz I know what your saying! Not to mention the bottom edge muskrats. Those sure do help pay the gas!!!

marbleyes,,,pulled the old line today while brent checked the rest. 35 mink and 26 coon. had a triple on coon where we set those 3 grizzs in that cottonwood grove. 18 of the mink came from the line i pulled today.

trapper 34,,,never made it to the bar,,was too wore out. getting old i guess. will try to get together another time.

When will the picture of all those taken in a blind sets near Lake City surface ?

2poor,,i broke down and made a blind set 2 weeks ago. my son pulled it today, empty. 3 coon and 2 mink from the pocket downstream though. 37 mink today.

Tim : You just don't know how to make blind sets for mink. If you use the " Lake City " method "passed down at my dads knee" you could double your catch. Lets see... 2 x 0 = 0

Jim

jim,,,i like your math. haha. how goes the coon trapping. we, and a few others this year, have noticed many coon refusing to work the grizz traps. seems similar to using coni boxes in early fall. are you seeing any of this in your area also?

Tim: My catch Is off about 30%............But every trapper Ive talked to Is having the same experience . Its a weird fall ...
Jim

Weird fall???

It should be dang near winter up here.

47 today and quarter inch or so of rain.

Fisher season opens in a few days and alot of the roads I use to get to my sets are mudded and rutted. I dont think they will freeze up. Better keep the cell phone handy.

I so wish I were trapping in all this warm weather and after seeing that pile of mink I'm really jones'n....I better just go to bed! Geralds video (and a little bit of 2poor beating me over the head with a tile spade) taught me how to catch more mink in one check than I had been catching in a season (with less traps to boot!) I still mix in blind sets but mainly in small culverts and in obvious places I sometimes just can't resist! Happy trapping. ScottW

trapper 34,,,never made it to the bar,,was too wore out. getting old i guess. will try to get together another time.

Well Fossil I made it to a bar. LOL Took a few beaver with the TS-85 this week! You should have plenty of mink & coon in the area to trap, I have not caught crap. Also haven't seen another trapper in the area.(Is this year over yet!!!!!!!) Later man

No kidding. Most years I can get in the woods and walk to locate Fisher tracks in the snow. No snow means no sign !

That and this short 9 day season I have my doubts about filling.

jim,,,weve had coon walking right past baited grizz traps, same as theyd walk past a coni box in novenber. no interest what so ever. another friend had the same results near fairmont, and another around albert lea area. just refused to work the trap at all. i believe its the corn still in the fields. we were all running about a 5 to 10 percent catch rate with grizzs. last year we were all running about 30 to 40 percent, same areas, same bait.

30 mink, 21 coon, 13 rats. slow day.

I guess I had some walk by too.... Full stomachs ?

jim,,yeah theyre fulla corn and dont need to search for food. they were the fattest coon ive ever seen for early in the season. i was told about an unbelievable number of coons hitting a deer feeder down south. the guys set a large number of grizzs around it, with different baits, and never caught a single coon. they were totally tuned in to the corn only and wouldnt respond to anything else. im sure its the same here with all the corn still in the fields. watch the weather,,,dont get froze in this year.

Way to pound em, Tim! What # are you trying to hit?
I pulled my last 15 stops yesterday and was happy to end up with 8 mink and 1 coon. 110 mink for the year and I'm very happy but feel like I'm going through withdrawls! Already making plans for next and have to set my gaol a little higher.

good job tim! thats a nice catch for sure. i didnt set a goal for this year, as my son and i trapped rats the whole first week, and got about 550. killed my first mink on nov. 11th, same with the coon. back in the day, i always figured i wanted 125 mink the first week, 100 the second, and 75 the third, for a total catch of 300. i have well over 300 now, so im probably about on-track with that. im making plans too, as its gonna be time to replace some of my 20+ year old dukes. for the price, and the time invested, im probably better off to buy a bunch of new ones and start fresh rather than disassemble and re-spring, etc. have you ever used the pinch pan replacement pans on duke 1 1/2s?

Weather??? I live 40 miles from Canadien border.. No snow all rain and 50 degrees.. We had 20 days of rain.. You couldnt keep a pocket working to save your life.. Guy better check his marten sets once a day or the fur will taint quick.. I caught a 52 pound yote left him hang one day and he started to green belly quick..

25 mink, 7 rats and 5 coon from 74 traps. short line but this was a first run on these traps. always good to get in some new sets.

Tim, never tried the replacement pans but run at least half of my sets with the real ones....love em! I don't know why the replacement ones wouldn't do a good job. I'm all done with my water stuff except for some beaver that need fixing and now it's time for the cat and fisher sets! Keep pounding em out, it's still hard for me to drive past a good creek without thinking I could catch another one.

This weather sucks doesnt it walner.

Tim S that first week was a good one to miss teh way the weather worked out.

I moved into the litchfield area right before the rain started.

Got there dry as a bone, worked a couple days and it was liek someone turned the spigot on. It was a miserable couple three weeks there for awhile. Couldnt even keep the family jewels dry there for a time.

tim,,the old pinch pans were the best mink trap in my opinion, but the coon liked to rip the pans off. i dont think it could get any better than a bolt on pinch pan. good luck with the cats and fisher. steven,,,yeah we stayed in the rat slough where the water wouldnt fluctuate, and let the other guys fight the water levels for those cheap first week mink. the other folks missed alot of mink too, as the water was constantly dropping and exposing their traps. theres old sets most everywhere i go now. thats ok,,i'll take the leftovers.

Fossil, nice to see you posting again, and thanks for the updates.

pulled one line today with 21 mink, 5 coon and a few rats. this was the 3rd check on these sets. looks like the temps are gonna bottom-out by mid week, and im not gonna get caught in the ice with a couple hundred traps to chop out. iowaminker,,,did you get out much this year?

you guys in minn must run a ton of traps for mink i just put my sets out yesterday and havent done to well but only 35 sets i still love to try figuring those boogers out though

legacy,,,its easy to run a decent number of traps in this area because of the road systems here. we have better access to the water than alot of other areas of the country. usually a road every mile, like a checkerboard.

I see " The Big Kahuna " has changed his tune. " a un-baited pocket Is a blind set" and " a pocket set will out shine a blind ".........

Has he started a new Post yet just to call me 2stupid ?

Tim, good to see your pullin some coon and mink. how many coon you up to?

nick,,,its all coming to an end by mid week. about 12 degrees i hear. pulled one line yesterday, and another tomorrow. thatll leave a few rat sets and funnel traps to play around with the rest of the week. we had high water here the first week or ten days and that hurt the people after the mink. alot of mink were missed because of the traps being exposed when the water dropped. we trapped rats the first week and didnt kill a mink til the 11th day of season. water was pretty stable by then, and i went in after the ones the others had missed. glad you got out after them for awhile, and hope you get back out again on your next break from school. keep us posted.

a blind set is a trap placed where you predict the mink will run, with no attractant to draw it in. an unbaited pocket uses both sight and odor attraction. the sight and smell of fresh digging is greatly attractive to mink, therefore its not a blind set.

blakley,,,dont get caught in the freeze this week with all those grizz traps stuck in the mud. nothing worse than having to pull those things after a bad freeze.

Tim : I too pulled one line yesterday and will pull the last Tues ........Im thinking muskrats now ... As soon as I can walk on the Ice.
Jim

Who are you trying to fool. As skinny as you are you could get out on 1/4"! lol

michael

jim,,,good plan you have there. i set a couple doz rat traps today but most will freeze tonite i think, but a few are dens so theyll be ok. are you gonna bust huts and set inside? wanna get my 5 1/2 year old grandson out for a little of that this fall yet.

Michael : I'm about 190 Lbs. I need at least 3/8" of clear Ice to feel safe.
Tim : Busting huts Is about as fun as rat trapping gets. Especially when live ones attact you on the Ice.

Jim

jim,,,i have about 20-25 funnel traps id like to get out at some point but i aint about to go falling through the ice at every step. im gonna need at least a full 1/2 inch to hold my weight. first finger on my left hand has a scar from reaching into a hut, and finding out the rat didnt hit the plunge hole and drown. yup,,thats as fun as it gets all right. haha. do you have a few rats in your area? very few around here.

Hey guys, you can walk on much less ice than you think with a pair of snow shoes on. If you do happen to fall through you'll never do it again, trust me. If you think it's work pulling wader boots outta the muck, you haven't tried it with snow shoes on. Ha ha Forget about getting up on the ice just have to break ice to shore or nearest rat hut

grizz, dont think i'll be trying that anytime soon. got this pic in my head of you on snowshoes, standing waist deep in a frozen slough. haha. you mustve wanted those rats pretty badly.

Tim,

Great job this year, good to see you are wacking and stacking the mink! Maybe that was my problem... I should have waited for my mad trapping week. Gunna get the 2 year old out for some weasels next, he has been asking me everday lately to go hunting

Steven

steven,,,if hes asking to go hunting at age 2, you and andrea have done a great job raising him so far. wanna get my grandson out on a rat slough if we ever get safe ice. will mix in a few weasel boxes for him too. i never pushed my kids to participate, but always made sure they were educated about hunting/trapping from little on. i got lucky, as both my son and daughter hunt and fish, and my son traps and my daughter likes to tag along there too. now you need to work on getting andrea involved in the fur shed. keep me posted. tim

pulled a short spur line today with 14 rats and 16 mink, plus a few coon. poor animal movement last nite. clear and cold. things are winding down for the year.

Must have? Can't remember that long back but was prolly too young to know better. Don't think I thought it through about getting them shoes outta the muck. Problem was I made it out on some real thin ice, why I couldn't have fell in right by shore. I still prolly would have never tried it again.

took my 5 year old grandson out today, and got 8 rats and a mink. had set a few along the road here as i knew he'd be coming along. he had a blast. then we set a few coon traps so hes anxious to see what we get in them. pulling the last main line tomorrow.

pulled the last line today with 9 mink, 6 coon and a few rats. not too bad for a 4th check. its all over except a little messing around with a few rats and weasels. hate pulling the last line every year. dont have an exact count, but i think about 400 mink in the last 3 weeks. time to start putting up some fur.

Congrats, that right there says you worked your behind off!

Do you just freeze them whole till after the season?

michael

michael,,we froze them whole and are gonna start skinning them now. did 15 fresh ones tonite that were laying around, along with a dozen rats. got those all boarded as well. nice to see some fur hanging in the shed finally. a fur handler picked up and skinned/froze about 150 of them for us so need to pick those up someday and get them fleshed and boarded too. they also skinned about 300 coon and over 500 rats for us and froze them too. we have alot of scraping and stretching to do this month. i enjoy working with fur though. my son brent was timing himself skinning some mink tonite, and peeled a female in 2 minutes and 6 seconds start to finish. if theyre not terribly old and tough, he can do 25 an hour. i still have to get out and check a few traps now and then so the weasels and a few winter rats will fill that void. i didnt actually work that hard on the mink, as brent and i trapped rats the first week, and didnt kill a mink til the 11th day of season. they should be a beautiful set of mink when theyre finished. light leather and a full bushy tail,,,nothing prettier. hope youre having a good season so far.

So far so good up here. Picked up a 29.2 lb tom on Tuesday and got a really really good looking 32 lb tom yesterday. Still no fisher, but the population is way down in this area so that is to be expected and probably just as well.

He is flying to get a mink skun in that time! Do you have anything special as far as a skinning table for the Mink? I kust use a vice grip screwed down to the bench with some rods welded in it to hold their feet. It works great for holding them while you pull up the belly.

michael

I skinned mink for a mink ranch for most of my life...and from the time I cut the front feet cut off, "opened" one with a knife, pulled the tail, and finishing the skinning...under a minute.

These were all warm animals, cold took at least double that.

We did it assembly line fashion though, one person cutting feet, one opening, and another pulling/skinning.

I miss those days....believe it or not. I had the strongest back and hands around:)

Jim

Fossil: Nice to see you are still catching a couple mink. Haven't "seen" you lately. Are you going to the winter meeting? I might see you there.

I time myself once this yr on ten mink, I think 6 were females though. Took me 28 minutes so I have room to improve. One thing I can think of is a little table with a clamp. This sittin on a bucket with them in my lap I know isn't the best/efficient way to do them.

You skun 10 mink in 28 minutes sitting on a bucket?

Ok, I'm doing it way wrong or something. I'm liiking at 10 min ea! And I have a table with a clamp! lol

michael

Ditto...sitting on a bucket, skinning em?

You're one hardcore SOB:)

Michael,you should be able to do one in five minutes easy.You scared of the scent bags? By the way if your looking for a cat trapping partner next year I'm your man.I'll even do the skinning!

SUCK UP!

You got that right DC I need to catch these registered fur bears.Five days up north and only a otter and lots of hearthache.Home now licking my wounds and catching fur.

Black, where were you up north?

I have 45 or so froze solid in the freezer and they need to get boarded soon, so I'll thaw them in batches of ten in case it takes me forever to skin them.

Michael

In the Nemaji near Sandstone ,Decent cat area I guess.Fisher seem very scarce.Just took four days which wasn't enough but I hed to get home.Probably should have left some boxes and went back.Next year I need a better plan.

Yeah, I've heard there are [plenty of cats in the area. I can get one tied up for you next year! lol

still plenty of season left.

michael

ive heard those ranch mink are a joy to work with but ive never messed with them myself. michael, brent and i both skin them in our laps, no tables or clamps for the mink. what slows folks down the most is too much cutting and not enough hand pulling. we dont sit on buckets,,,we have chairs. haha. sounds like youre doing great on the cats. mad trapper, i doubt if i'll make the winter meeting, again. always seems to be too much work to do around here and now we're putting up fur for the next month at least. im NOT fast at scraping coons.

Not fast, I can relate to that.

Half-fast best describes me.

Only thing about the ranch mink is.....the males are frigging huge...and they pull pretty hard after a couple hundred or so:)

You guys rock!

For my mink skinning I have a sharpened nail on the edge of my bench. I poke the paw on it and it holds well. It takes me 3-4 minutes or so and then I turn and shake them, but I don't think I can do 25 in an hour.
Great catch Tim.

Caught a cat before Michael but not a fisher it won't work out this year.Oh well a guy needs goals ,next year I will get a fisher I have no doubt about that.

Like fossil2... I skin mink on my lap. After opening and pulling the tail I step on the loose leg and tail skin and pull down to the front legs and skin with them with my thumb. I have snipped off the front feet so pulling the legs Is easy . And then I pull again intill the knife is needed again for the head . This takes about 3 mins.
Jim

a processor buddy of mine does 25 an hour, but can only keep it up for 5 hours before his hands give out. i have the same problem, and i cant peel a coon by hand anymore as i cant grip that greasy hide well enough to pull it off. i have to step on the bigger males too jim, but the young and females just peel right off. a friend skinned the first rat he'd done in many years this fall, and it took him 35 minutes, but after a few dozen, he got that down to about 10 minutes. haha. was thinking about having him spend a friday nite here, and put him to work the next day so he can see how things work. i think its something that cant be explained, but once seen, it comes easily.

Nice catch pics!!!!

Do any of you place guides inside the jaws for mink?

I was reading in Richard Faler Jr.'s book and this was one thing he talked about.

Using something that will crush under the force of the jaws.

Also, have any of you spiked your small coni's? He takes a long carriage bolt and puts it in place of the rivet, than uses that as a support by placing it in the ground.

As fossil mentioned it sounds like your doing too much knife work and not enough hand pulling. I use my knife 3 times.

Once for the original cut across back legs.
Again after I pull the hide from the back legs and up over the glands(1 cut to separate hide from glands)
Last on the head.
Everything is pulled by hand including the tail.

Oh I might add on some of the big bucks another cut around the tail is needed but I don't split the tail one bit. It seems to work better if you don't split the tail when just using your fingers. I haven't have a tail that I couldn't pull by hand in 17 yrs.

I can't explain it w/o pics but maybe this makes sense to you.

dust,,,all my mink are taken in pockets so no conis on my line. the spike method you speak of will work fine, however you get a strike on the sides of the head, not the throat and back of the neck. some believe this isnt a good thing. the only time i guide stick inside the jaws is after a coon catch and im feeling too lazy to redig the pocket. i only do this on one side of the trap, the dog side, as the other jaw is tight against the side of the pocket. hope this makes sense.

Yep, makes sense fossil. Thanks for the reply.

grizz, your hands are in better shape than mine for stripping those tails. i have a better method, never fails, and doesnt hurt my wrists at all. let brent skin the dam things. haha. i'll scrape and board.